Envelope



Oct. 16, 1934. Q ER 1,977,042

ENVELOPE Filed Aug. 8, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 16, 1934. c. 5. CATHER 1,977,042

ENVELOPE Filed Aug. 8, 1932 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I L I I Patented Got. 16, 1934 UNITED STATES ENVELOPE Charles E. Cather,,Worcester, Mass., assignor to United States Envelope Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application August 8, 1932, Serial No. 627,895

8 Claims. 01. 229-71) The present invention relates to an envelope so constructed as to serve for the transmission, by mail or otherwise, of a card or other inclosure that is appreciably smaller in both dimensions than the area bounded by the envelopes edges, notwithstanding which disparity of size, and lack of fit between the card and the envelope, the sendees name and address appearing on said card are maintained in registry with an opening 10 or window in the face of the envelope.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent in the following detailed description thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

-which-- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank or sheet adapted for manufacture into an envelope embodying my invention. 3

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the completed envelope made from the blank of Fig. 1, and illustrating the maintenance of a card or inclosure in registry with the window.

Fig. 3 is a'view similar to Fig. 1, showing a blank for a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 4-. is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the completed envelope made from the blank of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Figs. 2 and'4, illus-- Referring first to Fig. l, the envelope blank therein shown provides a rectangular body portion 1, forming the front wall of the'envelope and having an address-revealing window 2, here shown in a substantially central location. On opposite ends of the body portion 1 projectthe two substantially triangular end flaps 3 and 4, the latter, in the manufacture of the envelope, being foldedin on the lines 3 and 4', Fig. 1, following which a triangular bottom flap 5, having moist gum 6, 6, on its edges, is folded on the line 5' to overlap said gummed edges with the lower edges of the infolded end flaps 3 and 4, thereby to complete the back wall of the envelope.

Such an envelope, of conventional size, maybe made to serve for the transmission of a card or inclosure 7 of much smaller size, (Fig. 2), with the latter held within the envelope so as to maintain registry of the sendees name and address thereon with the window or opening 2, in the following manner:The back flap 5 in the manufacture of the envelope receives, in suitably spaced relation to its fold line 5, the moist gum 8, the latter, upon folding in of said flap 5, adhering to the front wall 1 somewhat below the lower edge of the window or opening 2; this adhesion be-- tween front and back walls constitutes a stop or barrier effective against the'lower edge of the card or inclosure 7, whereby said card, notwithstanding the fact that its breadth is much less than the depth of the envelope pocket, is kept vertically in a position where its upper edge 00- incides substantially with the line of fold 12 of seal flap 12, and where the sendees name and address thereon is substantially at the level of the window 2. However, this fixing of the vertical position of the card 7 does not take care of its lateral or endwise registry with the window 2,-the length of the card, as shown in Figs. 1,

2 and 5, being so much less than the length of the envelope that the sendees name and address thereon, by endwise or lateral movement of the card in either direction, could very easily get out of register with said window 2. According to my invention, either or both of the end flaps 3 and 4 ofthe envelope are so constructed as to cooperate with an end edge of the card '7 in preventing said cards endwise or lateral displacement within the envelope; as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the upper edges of both of the end flaps 3 and 4 are socut asto provide hooks or horns 9, 9 which, in the infolded position of said flaps, lie inwardly of and above the reentrant notches 10, 10. Said opposing notches 10, 10 in the completed envelope have their maximum spacing slightly in excess of the length of the card or inclosure 7, so that when the latter is inserted, with its ends overlying the hooks or horns 9, 9, as shownin Fig. 2, the notches 10, 10 serve as stops or shoulders, eifective on the end edges of said card, to prevent its endwise displacement in either direction. As a means of insuring the insertion of card 7 with its ends in the desired overlying relation to the hooks or horns 9, 9, the latter, if desired, may be supplied, before the infolding of flaps 3 and 4, with spots of moist gumming 11, 11, so as to adhere, when the blank is folded, to' the front wall 1. But this adhesion of the hooks or horns 9, 9 is not in any way essential to the operation of my invention, as the notches 10, 10 would perform their functions as stops or shoulders against endwise displacement of the inclosure 7, regardless of whether or not the horns 9, '9 are stuck down against the envelopes front wall. In the absence of such sticking down, the

envelope obviously is adapted to the reception, if desired, of a longer card or inclosure than the card 7; for example, a card or inclosure of substantially the full length of the envelope, or a card or inclosure whose length is substantially the distance between one notch 10 and the most re mote end edge of the envelope; in both cases, these longer cards would be held in registry with the window 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the upper edge of the card or inclosure 7 substantially coincides with the fold line 12 of the usual sealing or closure flap the latter having a band of gum 13 along its edge, adapted to be moistened and stuck down against the back wall of the completed envelope following insertion of said card '7; this sealing of the envelope prevents any upward displacement of the card i that would affect the laters registry with the window opening 2.

In the modification of the invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the window or opening of the front wall is offset laterally, as shown at 2, so as to lie adjacent the fold line 14' of one of the end flaps 14 of the blank; in this construction, said fold 14 serves as a limit stop, effective against one end of the inclosure '7, to prevent endwise movement of the latter, and consequently the flap 14, having no function itself as a limit stop, is of substantially conventional shape and construction. The opposite end flap 15 however, according to the invention, prevent endwise displacement of the card 7 in the opposite direction, away from the fold line 14, and to this end said flap 15, substantially at the juncture of its upper and lower edges, provides the notch 16 and the adjacent hook or horn 17, for cooperaion with the end of card 7 in substantially the same manner as the notch 10 and hook or horn 9 of Figs. 1 and 2. In this construction, the same guinrning 6 alon one edge of the bottom flap 5 provides the seam between overlapped portions of flaps 5 and 15, but in order to allow transmission of the envelope at a lower postal rate, the construction is such as to permit pulling out of end 14 for postal inspection, as shown in Fig. 4, this involving the omission of the usual gumming between overlapped portions of the flaps 5 and 14. Also, for this purpose, the gumming 18 on the seal or closure flap 19 is curtailed, to avoid interference with this withdrawal of the end flap 14. in this form of the invention, the

registration with the Wll'lClOW 2' of the name and address on the inclosure or card 7 is effectually maintained by making the distance between notch 16 and fold line 14' substantially equal to the length of the card, thereby preventing endwise movement of the latter in either direction;

movement of thecard 7 up or down is prevented.

the fold 19' of closure flap l9, and by the gumming 8' that unites the front and rear walls, said gumming 8 in this instance being shown as applied to the body portion 1 instead of to the flap 5.

Fig. 5 shows an envelope of the same form as Figs. 1 and 2, except that it embodies the feai ture of permitting withdrawal of end flap 4 for postal inspection,-the gummed seam at the overlap of bottom flap 5 with the lower edge of said flap 4 being omitted, and the gumming 13 on seal flap 12 being suitably curtailed, so as to avoid 1 sticking down of the seal flap 12 on the flap 4.

In this case, with the flap 4 folded in, the notches 10, 1c in the two flaps 3 and 4 serve to fix the position of the card '7, when the latter is inserted, so as to overlie the horns 9, 9 which in the present case, at least as regards the horn 9 on the withstantially its entire free edge, so as to stick down,

when moistened, to the flap 14 as well as to the flap 15. In this case, the hook or horn 17, adjacent the notch 16 of flap 15, is shown as stuck down, by gumming 21 against the front wall 1 of the envelope,as distinguished from the unstuck horn 1'? shown in Figs. 3 and 4. As hereinbefore pointed out, it is immaterial, so far as this invention is concerned, whether the horns or flap projections 9 and 17 of the flaps 3 and 15, respectively, be stuck down or not to the envelopes front wall, since it is the notches 10 and 16 that maintain the endwise registration of the card or inclosure '7, provided merely that the horns or projections 9 and 17 lie between said card and the front wall 1 of the envelope.

I claim,

1. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having a window in one of its walls, to reveal the address on an inclosure of substantially smaller size in both dimensions than said envelope, means for supporting said inclosure vertically, at the proper level for registry with said window and the free edge of the envelopes back wall providing a shoulder, in undercut relation to said free edge and spaced approximately by the length of said enclosure from the opposite marginal fold of said envelope, said shoulder serving, when the enclosure is inserted in overlying relation to the undercut portion of said free edge, as a stop to hold said enclosure against substantial endwise or lateral displacement relative to said window.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having a window in one of its walls, to reveal the address on an inclosure whose length is appreciably less than the length of the envelope pocket, the free edge of the back wall of said envelope providing a pair of notches, facing each other and spaced apart by substantially the length of said inclosure, to engage the two opposite end edges of said inclosure and prevent its endwise movement in either direction.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having a window in one of its walls, to reveal the address on an inclosure whose length is substantially less than the length of the envelope pocket, the back wall of said envelope being constituted by a plurality of folded-in and adhesively-secured flaps, one of which on a free edge thereof provides a notch, spaced approximately by the length of said inclosure from the opposite marginal fold of said envelope, said notch and said marginal fold adapted to be engaged by the opposite end edges of said inclosure and to hold the latter against endwise displacement in either direction relative to said window.

4. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having a window in oneof its walls, to reveal the address on an inclosure of substantially smaller size than the pocket of said envelope,

the envelopes front wall, whereby to make said 1 notch effective as a stop to limit the movement of said enclosure.

5. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having a window in one of its walls, to re veal the address on an inclosure of substantially smaller size than the pocket of said envelope, there being a pair of notches in the free edge or" the back wall of said envelope, said notches facing each other and spaced apart by substantially the length of said inclosure, said notches adapted to engage with the opposite end edges of said inclosure during and after the latters insertion in said pocket to obtain and maintain the registry of said address with said window.

6. An envelope having front and back walls, the former providing a window for revealing the address on an inclosure of substantially smaller size than said envelope, and the back wall being constituted by a plurality of marginally-overlapped adhesively-joined flaps, the free edge of one of said flaps having a notch which is undercut with relation to a portion of said free edge that is adhesively joined to the envelopes front wall, thereby to prevent insertion of said enclosure in the envelope pocket except with said notch in an operative relation as a stop against an edge of said enclosure.

7. An envelope having a window in one of its walls, to reveal the address on an inclosure whose length is appreciably less than the length of the envelope pocket, the free edge of the back wall of said envelope providing a pair of notches, facing each other and spaced apart by substantially the length of said inclosure, to engage the two opposite end edges of said inclosure and prevent its endwise movement in either direction, the back wall material adjacent each notch and along said free edge being adhesively secured to the other wall of the envelope to compel said inclosures entry between said notches.

8. An envelope having a window in one of its walls, to reveal the address on an inclosure whose length is substantially less than the length of the envelope pocket, the free edge of the back wall of said envelope providing a notch, spaced approximately by the length of said inclosure from the opposite marginal fold of said envelope, and

adapted to cooperate with said marginal fold,

to hold the inclosure against endwise displacement in either direction relative to said window, the back wall material in overhanging relation to said notch being adhesively secured to the other wall of the envelope, thereby to compel said inclosure, when inserted in said pocket, to make operative edgewise engagement with said notch.

CHARLES E. CATHER. 

